Jessa and I have recently finished watching our way through Star Trek: The Next Generation. I’ve never seen the show from start to finish before, so this was quite a treat for me in a number of ways. Details to follow.
When I was growing up, I used to watch bits and pieces of lots of science fiction with my mother. This is really how I started watching a number of different shows, though the most notable were Star Trek: The Next Generation, and Doctor Who. I’m sure there was some Star Trek original series in there too, but for whatever reason, TNG was the one that stuck with me. While watching through the series, I was surprised at how many episodes I remembered, ever so slightly. If nothing else, the bit of nostalgia was a good reason for me to watch through the show from start to finish.
On the other hand, watching through the show really gave me an appreciation for the characters arcs that I never caught before. Seeing everything in discontinuous fashion, I always thought of William Riker as being “ladies man” on the show, always being the plot hook for bringing trouble to the Enterprise because of women. However, while I don’t think anyone can deny that he has elements of the ladies man, that’s not his sole character archetype: I was surprised to find that more often than not, he is also the voice of reason. Similarly, Jean-Luc Picard often comes across as very level-headed, almost to the point of being cold; but the dance of courtship between him and Beverly Crusher was amazing to watch played out over seven (ok, six) seasons.
While Star Trek catches a lot of flack for it’s technobabble and cheesy plots, I never found that that bothered me. I think part of that is due to its age – it’s not that old, but it still has the feel of the golden age of science fiction to me. Specifically, its “reversing the polarity” and “inverse tachyon pulses” never seemed to subtract from the plot, but provide a solution that allowed a dramatic element. While at times it was certainly groan-worthy, it is certainly no worse than “I’ll put together a visual basic GUI and see if we can track an IP address” or a material called unobtainium.
Finally, I like Star Trek: TNG for its space romp. Space travel and discovering of all the strange things that can happen out there will always have a draw for me. Because the Enterprise D was specifically a ship of exploration (not of war) really added to this for me – the idea of science teams, and families aboard a ship just out to see what’s out there added a sense of the fantastic. While I may not ever live to see it, the idea of a future where a government finds the exploration of space of such paramount importance that it should be done alongside our children is one I would like to believe in.
And so, at the end of the day, the thing I’ll always love the most about Star Trek: The Next Generation is its idealism. With so much science fiction painting a future of war, corruption, and treachery, I have always enjoyed instead the picture of exploration and peace. The thought that someday, we will be better than we are.